One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant cardinal flower is to look at the USDA zone info for Panama City.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cardinal flower until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Panama City is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Panama City the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Panama City is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Panama City there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your cardinal flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Panama City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Panama City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Panama City.